Virtually all diet plans work if a person will stick with the plan long enough. Most of us seem to have trouble with that. I'm going to focus on just doing good for one day--and then another, and another, and another.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Yesterday was a day to diet and party. In the morning there were the usual temptations at work along with the addition of a batch of killer cookies made by a co-worker's husband. This husband makes incredible cookies and cakes which he can't eat because he is diabetic, so he makes all of these goodies for his friends, family, and for his wife to take to work.

I passed on the cookies yesterday, along with all of the candy and other wonderful tasting things at work. That was easily a 1,000 to 1,500 calories saved over what I would normally eat when in non-dieting mode. All of that good willpower went out the window later in the day when I made brownies for a party and then when attending the party. Is this a case of "bad Frank", a setback in my dieting efforts? Not really.

As most of you imaginary readers know, dieting is actually a never ending process. We talk about dieting for the next three months, or the next year, or until we reach a certain weight goal, but people like you and I have to be ready to diet forever. That's because people like you and I gain back all the weight we've lost as soon as we think we can quit dieting.

While dieting forever sounds depressing, it really shouldn't be. Dieting can and should include times like last night when I ate, drank and was merry with my friends. We talk about dieting to lose weight as a means to improve our quality of life, but we don't want to sacrifice the quality times of our life during the process. I had a great time with friends last night--and now it is time to put in a good day of dieting before the parties of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Today will be a day without junk food, a day to partially make up for the fun of yesterday evening. Being flexible without losing discipline is a key to successfully losing weight and keeping it off.